Householder spent $19 per vote in W.Va. delegate race

December 27, 2010|By MATTHEW UMSTEAD | matthewu@herald-mail.com

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MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Berkeley County businessman Eric L. Householder appears to have spent about $19 per vote in his successful bid for a seat in the 100-member West Virginia House of Delegates in the 2010 election, according to election results and financial statements filed with Secretary of State Natalie E. Tennant’s office.

Householder’s campaign-reported expenditures totaling $63,328.32 appear to be the most spent by any Eastern Panhandle resident who ran for elected office in 2010, according to post-general financial statements. The reports, which were due recently, were the last to be filed for the 2010 election cycle.

In the 56th district, which includes portions of Berkeley and Jefferson counties, Householder, R-Berkeley/Jefferson, received 3,322 votes, or 56.3 percent, and Del. Terry L. Walker, D-Jefferson/Berkeley, received 2,573 votes, or 43.6 percent, according to official results.

The annual salary for delegates is $20,000. State House members are elected to two-year terms.

Walker, who was appointed to the House seat in November 2009 by former Gov. Joe Manchin, reported spending $21,586, according to his post-general finance statement.

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Householder’s campaign spending, including $49,123 in personal loans, vastly exceeded what 23rd Judicial Circuit Judge John Yoder of Jefferson County spent in an unsuccessful statewide race for a seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.

Yoder reported spending less than $6,000 and lost to state Supreme Court Justice Thomas McHugh by fewer than 8,000 votes, according to election results. McHugh reported spending $287,337 in his post-general report this month.

Among other races, Pocahontas County Democratic State Sen. Walt Helmick, whose sprawling nine-county 15th senatorial district includes Morgan County and part of Berkeley, reported $77,016 in expenditures, according to his post-general report. Helmick’s Republican challenger, Jeremy D. Bauserman, reported $1,875 in expenditures. Helmick also had a primary election opponent before defeating Bauserman to win re-election last month.

In the 16th district, Del. Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, outspent state Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley, but still came up a little more than 300 votes shy of winning the race.

Unger, who faced a primary election opponent before Blair, reported spending $18,922 earlier this month. Blair had not filed his post-general report as of Wednesday night, but estimated in a brief interview that he spent about $36,000.

Legislative candidates reported the following election year-to-date spending totals in their respective post-general election report, which is the final reporting period for the 2010 election cycle. An asterisk signifies the 2010 general election winner. Those marked with a # won primary races in May.